Talking to The Sun about their new deal, Niall Horan explained: "If you look at the names and record sales on Syco, our label here, you go 'Wow' - but being label-mates with Bowie, Dylan and Bruce is on another level."

Harry Styles added: "America is a massive place and it's going to be hard. Nothing is gonna come easy.

"A lot of people have tried and failed but we want to break the mould and see what we can do. We'll definitely give it a go."

He continued: "We did a couple of signings in Europe and it surprised us how many people were out there.

"It was crazy in Italy. Riot police had to protect us and nearly had to shut down the whole event. There were 3,500 people. Optimistically, we were expecting 200."